Wow!

Jackson is a whopping 18 months old today!

He went to the doctor last week and weighed in at 25 pounds. For whatever reason, 18 months seems like some sort of milestone to me, almost like a birthday or something . . . no, we're not having cake, ice cream or presents! So, since it's a big day in my mind, I've been taking pictures of him most of the day and I'm sure he's ready to grab the camera and throw it (maybe even in the toilet like he did some crackers the other day)! Speaking of the toilet, there is a toilet picture below that was actually taken before these first two, but I didn't want to start off with a picture of the toilet!

I gave him a bath this morning since we had good friends over last night and we decided to skip bath and go to bed. For the last few days, once I get him out of the tub, he plops down on the rug for several minutes. I just started putting the towel over him partly to play and to keep him warm since he's wringing wet. I know this picture really doesn't mean anything to anyone but me, but when I took this picture this morning, from under the towel, I kept hearing "Quack, quack . . . quack, quack" over and over!

I set the camera on the floor, lifted up the towel, and just snapped! I was hoping I would get a sweet smile!

No, we don't let our son play with the toilet!
I walked in as he was lifting up the seat, and when he saw me, a huge grin came across his face, he started shaking his head left and right, and said "No, no!". The little sucker knew what he was doing! But it obviously doesn't mean anything to him since he didn't want to quit playing with it until I walked over and made him leave it alone!

Little monkey

Hmm . . . I guess he's winterizing it?
The other day I was starting to cook supper and got a skillet out. Thankfully, I took the lid off before I turned the burner on since I discovered a measuring tape hiding out in there.
p.s.-we had the fridge organized but Jackson came through like a tornado . . . haha. :)


Fast food.
He's just started wanting to keep whatever toy he's been playing with with him while he eats. A couple of times I've given in and let him keep the toy and each time something like this has happened. There have been blueberries in that car and more ham chunks in the caboose of a train! He mainly gets to do this, because as my Mom once told me, you pick your battles (and maybe also for the fact that he's pretty darn cute). Needless to say on this day I really would rather him eat than go to war, so he got to keep the car. And yes, he did eat pretty decent during this!

The little fella is napping right now, but since it's a big day and all, I may add more pictures later on!

Fun at the Park

The weather was nice, so Jackson and I headed to the park this afternoon. I realized today that for him to really have fun, we need another person. Right off, I helped him climb up the slide and then all the sudden he turned his back to me, laughed, and started to dart. I looked where he was headed and my heart skipped a beat . . . he was headed right toward an opening where older kids can climb down some ladder type thing, but something that an 18 month old will just fall flat on his face. Thankfully, he stopped before he plunged and I was able to get to him. Talk about an eye-opener! From then on, whenever he was "inside" the gym, I was right beside him.

He's laughing while trying to wiggle out of my hand so he can run off and scare me again!

Playing with the fence. He liked to pull it back and forth, again and again and again. There is a walking path at the park also and he liked to follow the people walking by. Needless to say, I ran as much as he did today.

He did eventually make it up the slide by himself!

Right after this picture, he found a packet of some hot sauce from Taco Bell that a litterbug had left behind. Before I could get to him, he had it and was squeezing it. Of course it was open and his hands were covered. All I had on me was about an ounce of juice left that I poured on his hands. We left soon after. Thank goodness he didn't rub his eyes before we got home.

My baby

He loved watching his shadow.
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This picture was taken a little over a year ago and one of the first times in his highchair. I remember thinking then that it wouldn't be long before he really filled it in. Also, notice the straps that he has on (like he's really going anywhere, a bit overkill at this point).


And a picture of him today! How he has grown and changed!

Remember those straps? Not long after we started using the highchair, I took all of the straps off not really thinking to the future--well, they would be nice now . . .

Under the Weather

Jackson has been sick this week. Thankfully, this is the first time in months, but as soon as he spent a day in daycare, he came home with the crud. I'm beginning to wonder though if it's not sinus or allergy since neither me nor Zach have come down with it. This picture was taken this morning; his sweet little eyes were puffy this morning after they started draining goop yesterday. This eye stuff has never happened to me, so I'm a little worried of why they're doing that, but Zach said his have done it before, so that calms me a little. Zach gave him a bath not long after this picture and that seemed to make him feel better.

Everything in hand to feel better--

blanket

chocolate milk

Tom Baby

(Zach's teddy bear when he was little!)

After an artic blast the last few days, the weather is beautiful here today, so Zach was outside trimming some trees with a helping hand!

Out to show Daddy how it's really done!

Trimming the bush while Daddy takes care of the tall trees!

His eyes are still puffy :(

Boys and their toys

Busted

Trains and Things

Jackson has recently discovered trains!

During Christmas, Zach came across some tv show which just shows moving trains and occassionaly has some narration. I think it's called Trains & Locomotives and looks like it was filmed in the 80s, but Jackson saw it and was instantly mesmerized! So, we've set the tv to record it anytime a show comes on and we tend to turn it on when we need Jackson to calm down! He'll stop what he's doing to stare at it and says "toot, toot" over and over! So when we hear a train going through town and have the opportunity, we'll try to load him up real quick and let him see one in person!

Derailed by Conductor Destructo

Staring at trains on the tv!

Nothing to do with trains, I just caught a cute smile!

After Jackson was born, we of course were sent home with a bunch of 'this n that' from the hospital. One of those things was a blue bowl . . . don't know what they used it for, but at our house we started using it during bath time to rinse him off, etc. Jackson now loves this bowl-likes to pretend he's stirring stuff up or filling it up with water and dumping it everywhere, or more recently, wearing it!

This bowl was perhaps the best thing we were sent home with! Well, maybe it's the runner-up . . .

Oh My!

As I was getting Jackson dressed this morning, I turned around and saw this! YIKES!

Talk about a GASP!

Thankfully I was just a couple of steps from him and luckily I happened to have my camera within reach. I had been trying to get a picture of these cute curls--

I know it's blurry, but you can't see his curls in a picture if the flash is used!

Happy New Year!

We've been taking it easy since Christmas and enjoyed our first weekend at home since Thanksgiving. Jackson is starting to figure out some of his new toys and is still obsessed with one in particular . . .

here he is in the morning,

and the afternoon

(with a yummy snack of grapes and apple jacks!)

and before bed!

He also received some plastic tools for Christmas and when he saw the hammer he immediately went over to the wall and started banging! He had seen Zach putting some things on the wall earlier in the week and using a hammer, so Jackson went over to the same wall and started hitting like he had seen Daddy! We were shocked he even realized he had a hammer, much less to remember how Daddy had used his and where! So, needless to say, we're working on not banging on the walls!

Zach and I want to keep up with Jackson's height through the years rather than just writing it in his baby book, so we put this chart up in his room and wanted to start it on the New Year. I would love to be able to do this on a door frame like my grandmother did, but we figure at some point we'll leave this house and don't want to leave this memory behind.